Portfolio Insights:“Bentley University (“Bentley” or the “University”) is a business university enrolling approximately 4,100 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, 1,400 graduate students, and 30 PhD students. Bentley was founded in 1917 and is set on 163 acres in Waltham, Massachusetts, 10 miles west of Boston within the high tech Route 128 corridor.

Academic programs at Bentley combine business and information technology with arts and sciences to prepare students for a workplace that is increasingly global, information rich, and technology driven. With particular strengths in ethics and social responsibility, and global commerce and culture, Bentley develops business leaders who are technologically skilled, culturally literate, creatively inspired , and socially responsible.” (Source)

1) The Bentley Investment Group (BIG) is a student organization that is responsible for managing a portion of the university’s endowment. This student-managed portfolio gives Bentley students the opportunity to make real investment decisions. BIG is open to and has members from a variety of majors and provides students with the experience of working in a team environment and making group decisions.

Founded in 1997, with an original allocation of $250,000 from the Board of Trustees, the original 24 members of BIG worked hard to establish the framework for this new educational concept. Throughout the years, BIG has grown by leaps and bounds, implementing new strategies and reforming internal processes.

BIG has established guidelines and procedures for more efficient presentations and stock valuations, as well as a more efficient decision-making process. (Source)

2) Dec 1, 2014 – Bentley University’s total endowment fund and other holdings soared by 18 percent this past fiscal year, as the school’s overall financial investments shifted more toward US and global equities. Known for its business education for undergrads and graduate students, Bentley’s total investments hit $268 million as of June 30, 2014, up from $227 million from the prior year. The university’s total assets, which include its properties and facilities in Waltham, was estimated at $565 million, up from $507 million from the year prior, according to Bentley filings. (Source)

3) The endowment fund of Bentley University has entrusted a small portion of the fund with a student investment group, Financial Advisor Magazine reports. The Bentley Investment Group (BIG) manages about $520,000 in its long-only equity portfolio, a fraction of the Massachusetts-based university’s overall endowment of about $150 million.

The group, which currently has about 150 general members, was originally given a $250,000 lump-sum to manage. Any Bentley student can join BIG regardless of their academic major. (Source)

4) Dec 29, 2010 – Bentley University’s trading operation, among the first of its kind in 1997, was originally tucked away in a small classroom. Now, the university has a 3,000-square-foot trading floor equipped with 57 computer workstations, 5 Bloomberg terminals and 4 ticker screens displaying real-time market data.

At the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, roughly 1,000 students come through the glass-encased trading room each week. Baruch’s Bert W. and Sandra Wasserman Trading Floor — named after a former chief financial officer of Time Warner and his wife — features 50 Reuters and Bloomberg-equipped computer stations. Some two dozen Wall Street traders temporarily took over the space after they were displaced by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (Source)

5) Bentley University is one of the nation’s leading business schools, dedicated to preparing a new kind of business leader and one with the deep technical skills, the broad global perspective and the high ethical standards required to make a difference in an ever-changing world. To achieve our goal, we infuse our advanced business curriculum with the richness of a liberal arts education. The results are graduates who are making an impact in their chosen fields and turning their passions into success stories. Located on a classic New England campus just minutes from Boston, Bentley is a dynamic community of leaders, scholars and creative thinkers. (Source)

About Richard C. Wilson

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